Cherry Blossom Fireworks
by Sjokolade
Summary: On the same New Year’s Eve as Hana tries desperately to find a private spot where she can talk to Ryohei, she stumbles over Mukuro naked and handcuffed to a toilet. Here's what happened… 6918
1. It's all about keeping score

**Title**: Cherry Blossom Fireworks  
**Rating**: T  
**Pairing**: 6918  
**Warning**: language, violence and something that resembles romance!  
**Author's note**: I got one review on _Namimori Candy Baby_ suggesting I did a parallel story on Mukuro and Hibari, and then I couldn't stop thinking about it ^_^  
They're quite independent though, that story and this one, so there's no need to read the first one to get this one! I estimate it to 3 capters total...

* * *

-

In retrospect, Mukuro reckoned he would have probably found the whole incident extremely amusing – if it had happened to someone else, that is… and there was plenty of time for restrospecting, because time was the one thing trapped people had enough of (too much of, in fact). 'Trapped' more or less defined Mukuro's constant state of being nowadays – had done for a while now, actually – but this particular predicament was different.

To the oblivious observer it looked a bit like he was taking a nap, which in itself wouldn't have been very odd, except that he was stark naked and draped out on the cold hard black and white checkered tiles of a bathroom.

He was also handcuffed to a toilet…

The bad thing was how absolutely and completely helpless he was. Because he couldn't change back (leaving his _Chrome_ naked and handcuffed to a toilet in his place was most definitely out of the question), and he couldn't very well break loose from the damn thing either, because he would be showered in toilet water if he did. It didn't even occur to him to try calling for help.

But, even as he tugged helplessly at the handcuffs, he found he couldn't stop grinning, and his heart was beating almost giddily inside the cavity of his chest – _God_ but he loved the guy!

Crazy, unpredictable, drop-dead gorgeous Hibari Kyouya…

-

**Chapter 1**  
– it's all about keeping score –

-

Their first New Years Eve together was quite memorable, in many ways, and it happened in Italy, because Dino Cavallone had invited them all there to spend the holidays with him. Oh, and they weren't together.

It was nice, really. It was Sawada Tsunayoshi's first trip abroad, actually (but he had been to the future, so nobody made much of a fuss about it), and, incidentally, also Hibari's – but he wasn't embarrassed about anything in the whole wide world. So that was that.

Since Dino never did anything half-way, he really had invited them all, including Tsuna's steadily growing group of friends and/or Guardians, his family, and even Rokudo Mukuro and his little Kokuyou posse – even though they had tried to murder nearly all of team Vongola at various points (but then again, so had Hibari. And Gokudera. And Bianchi… and Reborn).

The flight over was an interesting affair though.  
As it turned out, Chrome Dokuro didn't handle air travel very well and was clutching onto her seat like a kitten being dangled over a bathtub and Sasagawa Ryôhei, who was in die-hard denial about his own motion sickness (apparently _real men _did not get motion sickness), had to be practically shoved into the tiny bathroom stall so that he wouldn't be sick all over their seats. Hana might have been able to convince him to stay in there and be a good boy (they had been an 'item' for quite some time now, the two of them, and Ryôhei would have gladly run to the end of the world to pick her a blade of grass if she had asked him to), but as it were Hana seemed to have more pressing matters on her mind and kept answering all questions with one-syllable answers that, even then, didn't make much sense.  
And so the enforcers of clean air and clean floors ended up being Yamamoto and Gokudera. Tsuna wasn't terribly keen on them spending too much time together though, because Gokudera spent most of the flight pretending to teach an eager Yamamoto greetings etcetera in Italian that were all really horrible, horrible insults and swearwords.

To make matters worse, Hibari had occupied the entire front half of the plane for himself. And because he had somehow managed to get both his bird and his weapons with him onboard, he had plenty of leverage to _keep_ this half, thus effectively forcing the 16 other passengers to share the exactly 16 remaining seats in the back.  
Only Ken was stupid enough to try and argue with him about it and after Hibari had knocked him unconscious with a safety brochure nobody else felt very much like giving it a try.

_(Score: Hibari 1 – Mukuro 0)_

-

New Years in Italy was, apparently, one huge party and, to the surprise of absolutely nobody (least of all Hibari), Dino turned out to be something of the glowing sun around which the social scene of Italy revolved. In addition to his visitors from Japan and his own entourage of loyal subordinates, he had also invited a select number of people in high positions and people from other families who had, or _ought_ to have, some connection with the Vongola family. And so, on the final grand evening of the year, they were close to 300 people.

The Cavallone mansion (or _this_ one, anyway, because thanks to Dino's clever financials the Cavallone famiglia owned real estate nearly all over country) had been constructed roughly half a century ago and came complete with elaborate frisks decorating the corners, curly Art Nouveau banisters, a huge ballroom with a huge piano and a banquet hall.  
It looked, in other words, exactly like what you'd imagine.  
Decorated for New Years Eve it looked even more fabulous, with all the lights dimmed down to a golden glow and vases of roses and freesias placed along the walls and the spacious air under the high ceilings filled with the sound of chattering voices and music and the scent of expensive food, expensive flowers and French perfume.

One particularly fun thing about celebrating New Years in Italy was that it gave them all the opportunity to dress up in western formal attire, and the girls especially thought this was so much fun that they decided to go shopping for new clothes already on the same day as they arrived. The boys had their suits, and since it is a universally accepted fact of nature that all men look handsome in suits, they didn't have to. So that was that.

Anyway, it was the second time that Team Vongola 10th could don their uniform, black suits together, and the first time they did so for reasons that did not involve their own potential Doom and/or complete Annihilation.

And that was nice.

Hibari Kyouya, of course, did not bring any such items of clothing with him, because he wasn't going to wear them – or he wasn't planning to (_he_ had arrived in his prefect's uniform), but the Cavallone seemed to have anticipated this for he did, coincidentally, have a black suit and a shirt ready that just happened fit Hibari perfectly. Bucking Bronco had a knack for predicting his moods this way, which puzzled Hibari nearly as much as it annoyed him to the seven depths of hell.

He ended up wearing the suit, though.

The only reason he'd come along on this particular escapade with the chief Herbivore (Sawada) and his little crowd of herbivore pets to visit the herbivore with the whip, was because the baby had phrased the invitation in a way that indicated nearly all of the names listed in his personal Book of Death would probably be there.

His Book of Death was a mental list.

A lot of people keep lists over things they want to do before they die. Hibari had no such list but he did have a list of people he would like to _make_ die, and on the night of the party he observed the crowd in vigilant silence from a private spot he had claimed for himself by the wall, secretly hoping he might catch a glimpse of one or more of them.

It was a (very) long list, but there were subtle differences attached to each of the names listed there.  
Dino Cavallone was ranked 4th, but he would, of course, never kill Bucking Bronco, and deep down inside he also knew that he didn't want to. But Bronco was always good for a fight. Or rather, he was whenever Hibari could catch him. Lately Dino had become something of an expert at avoiding violent confrontations and Hibari was starting to suspect that he didn't enjoy them quite as much as Hibari did.  
Yamamoto Takeshi was ranked under him again but, again, he just wanted to fight him for the fun of it.

Above Bucking Bronco was the Varia Rain, Superbi Squalo, with the long hair and the big loud mouth (they had challenged each other on two whole occasions, but so far it had never amounted to anything), and on 2nd place was the King of Monkey Mountains, Xanxus. Hibari hoped to be able to bite them both dead before he turned 20, which, if his calculations weren't entirely off, would be next spring.

Sawada Tsunayoshi and the baby were on it, too, but they were ranked in a different way altogether. And in the case of Sawada Hibari really only wanted to clobber him when the boy's forehead was on fire – he was really pathetically weak when it wasn't.

And then finally and firmly established on 1st place, there was _him_…

Hibari and Mukuro had only met each other twice since their infamous first encounter – the one that had very nearly killed him.

The first time was almost right after the ring battles when suddenly Mukuro had magically appeared on the school roof and told Hibari to stop searching for him.  
"I'm not in school anymore," he had said with a serious expression and added with a joyless snicker that, arguably, he was not even really there at all and that the Mukuro whose intestines Hibari was currently trying to pulverize was merely an illusion made real.

Hibari wasn't very good (or very interested) in reading people's emotions, but he thought that Mukuro had seemed depressed.

The 2nd time was at another one of these social _gatherings_ that seemed to sprout up like weed around Sawada (and, incidentally, around Bucking Bronco too) that he had intended only to show his face at for maybe 3 minutes and then leave, but in that very short time-span Mukuro, whom Hibari hadn't even noticed was there at all, had managed to spike his green ice-tea. And, as it turned out, Hibari's tolerance level when it came to alcohol was… low.

This was unfortunate because, right before that, Hibari had _finally_ managed to threaten that damn quack with the mosquito army into giving him a proper antidote for that little sakura-sensitivity he had accidentally infected him with – and then that spineless, filthy, scumbag of an herbivore had somehow managed to figure out what his _other_ only exploitable weakness was already on their second meeting!

It was unforgiveable and Rokudo Mukuro would die a thousand deaths at his hands personally for the impudence.  
But they hadn't met since then, and Hibari hadn't had the chance.

_(Score: Hibari 1 – Mukuro 2)_

-

Mukuro took over sometime just after 8 and he spotted Hibari almost at once, as if by some secret instinct.

It was a ridiculously risky thing to do, of course, revealing himself like this in a place with approximately 300 people who might potentially recognize him and who might, potentially, try to kill him when they did… but the satisfaction, he decided, was definitely worth it. And Rokudo Mukuro was all about satisfaction.

The sheer number of people present seemed to somehow naturally divide Sawada's little crew into 2 different groups: those who handled crowds very well, and those who did not. Yamamoto Takeshi, Sasagawa Ryôhei, the girls (who weren't Chrome) and the children were having a blast, it seemed, talking to everyone and enjoying all the attention they were getting. Sawada Tsunayoshi, who got the most attention of all, looked on the contrary like he was on the verge of throwing himself out the window unless he could somehow conjure up an invisibility cloak or a black hole he could disappear into. And Gokudera Hayato, who knew most of these people from before, seemed to get grumpier with every passing second and spent the better part of the evening either fending off people who were curious about Tsuna, or avoiding the ones who seemed curious about him.

Hibari Kyouya had found a spot by one of the arced, ten-feet French windows that had either been empty when he got there or been _emptied _when he got there (it was kind of a 'the hen or the egg' thing, when it came to Hibari) where he could overlook the entire ballroom, and for the most part he was left alone. Most of the people who knew Dino Cavallone at all had probably already heard about him, Mukuro reasoned, and knew to tread carefully around him. But there was still a great number of people there who had no idea who he was and who had the nerve and misfortune to approach him before anyone could intercept.  
It was wildly entertaining, of course, what with Hibari being Hibari and all.

Mukuro leant his back against the door, straight across the floor from Hibari, and chuckled with amusement as he observed one of these awkward little séances.  
Someone, a man Mukuro didn't know, had come up to him with a drink, and even though Hibari did not accept it and continued to give him the Evil Eye, the man still hung around him awkwardly for a few moments. It was too far away to hear, but he was moving his mouth and had his hands deep in his pockets, until eventually he seemed to catch on and wander off with a defeated look on his face.

Hibari remained unfazed. He seemed distracted, somehow, like he was looking for something that ought to have been there or waiting for something to happen, and Mukuro realized this with a surge of quiet, swooping elation.

-

Hibari had little interest in the sort of mating rituals that seemed to take up most of the time and effort of his peers, and even if he recognized the sometimes less than subtle invitations he was getting, he didn't really understand them – the easiest thing would have been to just beat them all up for the impudence of intruding on his Personal Space, he thought. But there was a time and a place for everything and this was neither.  
Plus, he had noticed that he was being watched by both Dino and Gokudera Hayato, who both seemed to find these occurrences so hilarious that they were actually wiping tears of laughter from their eyes.

Hibari glared.

He was just about to give up, thinking he might as well go up to sit on the roof and enjoy the view or maybe finish the book he was reading, when he looked up and his breath caught slightly as his eyes landed on an all-too-familiar face…

There he was, Rokudo Mukuro in the flesh, pretty as a punch in the face and leaning against a doorframe at the other side of the room.  
The silky, blue-black hair fell down over his face like a curtain and he was glancing up sideways, his eyes fixed unflinchingly at Hibari. He smirked and, in an almost playful fashion, lifted his hand in a wave that was little more than a wiggle of his long fingers.

And it was really him. It was really, really Rokudo Mukuro, and Hibari felt something give inside him; like falling backwards or letting out your breath at once.

At the instant their eyes met, Hibari was overwhelmed by a wonderful rush of bloodlust and, welcoming it, he detached himself from the wall with a reptile smile, moving quickly and smoothly like a cat.

_Finally!_

_(Score: Hibari 1 – Mukuro 3)_

.

"Umh, shouldn't we stop them?"

Tsuna watched Hibari's retreating form from across the room with a sense of sinking dread in his stomach. He cast Dino a nervous glance. This would end up being his fault, he thought somberly, whatever happened it would somehow end up being his fault. "I mean, those two can be pretty… destructive."  
A brief moment of silence followed this statement as they all remembered the infamous 'bar incident'.

He and Gokudera had joined the little group consisting of Reborn, Yamamoto, Ryôhei and don Cavallone himself, who had occupied a small sitting group in the corner that was probably worth an estate and were playing some sort of drinking game with a stack of playing cards and tiny shot glasses of something colorless that smelled like hospital.

But Dino, who was either winning handsomely or losing epically, depending on one's definition of victory in a drinking game, simply grinned brightly in response and waved his hand dismissively. "Ah, don't worry about it, little bro'! Let them have some fun."

Tsuna scratched his neck and muttered darkly, "… I don't think they're planning on having _fun_."

"What is it with those two anyway?" said Gokudera, looking annoyed as he lit himself a cigarette.

"I think they like each other," said Yamamoto Takeshi plainly, in a matter-of-factly tone of voice, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. Then, seeing the openly shocked looks he was getting from the others, he laughed and added, "it's obvious, right? I just don't think either of them knows what to do about it."  
He began to gesticulate with his hands, glass still in his hand, spilling drops of pungent alcohol on his suit without noticing.  
"It's the same as when you're a kid, right – You bully someone because you really want their attention. I did that, too, when I was little." He grinned. "Now I just think it's cute to watch."

Gokudera squinted up at Yamamoto, his expression caught somewhere between disgust and disbelief but said nothing. Tsuna reckoned Yamamoto's observation probably ought to have jarred him far more than it did, but for some inexplicable reason it made all the sense in the world, and that realization did absolutely nothing to brighten his mood.

"Yeah, well," Gokudera took a long drag from his cigarette, "when one of those '_kids'_ is a sadistic agoraphobic and the other one is a bonafide sociopath it's not so cute anymore though is it?"

* * *

**Author's note**: as clichéd as this opening chapter is, I hope you still enjoyed reading it and that you'll want to read the rest – I just _had_ to write it ^_^

Reviews would be AWESOME, thank you!


	2. It's all about having the upper hand

**Author's note**: thank you so incredibly, _insanely_ much for the reviews! Here is chapter 2 ^_^  
Oh, and I don't know how many of you are currently following the manga, so I won't spoil anything – but if you've stopped, you _might_ just want to start reading it again now…! I will say no more, except that _yours truly_ here is very nearly ecstatic!  
There is a little more action in this chapter. But, ah, I love to write about Hibari! I just have way too much fun coming up with his lines XD

* * *

-

**C****hapter 2  
**– it's all about having the upper hand –

-

It might have interested Gokudera to know that there existed, in fact, a digital file on Rokudo Mukuro that proved that it could _not_ be proven that the boy was mentally unstable and/or socially dysfunctional. It was nearly 15 years old now and was impossible to find for anyone who didn't know exactly where to look.  
It consisted of a collection of standardized tests carried out by a pediatric psychologist who had worked for the Estreano family – and that was why you needed to know where to look for it, because the entire Estreano clan, their human testing facilities and all the technical equipment there had been violently wiped out only a few days after the enigmatic little boy had been subjected to what was supposed to be the last of the tests.

In terms of psychological stereotyping the results were wildly inconsistent, and all that they really concluded with was that the eye they had implanted in the quiet boy did not do the things it was supposed to do… And it had changed color to red, and that's never a good sign. Not in any setting – basic rule of thumb: red eyes = run _away_.

Incidentally, Namimori elementary and middle school were in possession of some similar files on Hibari Kyouya.  
Hibari had not wiped out any employees or destroyed any equipment and so the documents were still there, perfectly intact. According to the tests (most of which consisted of yes/no questions along the lines of: "are you often bored?" and "have you ever tortured a squirrel?"), there was nothing they could pin on him – all he did was follow the rules, really, and clobber those who didn't. Plus the counselors who had conducted the interviews had all been terrified of the kid (Hibari Kyouya had been a lovely, sugar candy nightmare of a child).

So that was that.

-

Still, to say that they were two perfectly ordinary teenagers chasing each other would perhaps have sounded… absurd.

-

Either way, Mukuro reckoned now that he was being quite careful by his own standards.  
He had merely wanted to _see_ the guy again – it had been so long since last time – just tease him a little and see what he would do, he wasn't planning on doing any mischief. Except that really he was, of course, and once he realized he had caught Hibari's attention his mind automatically started conjuring up one tempting image after the other.  
How shameless.

Because it was still relatively early in the evening, nearly all the guests were still busy mingling in the ballroom and the other, less grand rooms around it, exchanging pleasantries and gossip and nibbling delicacies from the long tables in the banquet halls. But the door Mukuro had disappeared through lead to a hallway that was completely empty and when the doors closed behind him all sound disappeared at once and it felt like entering a different world.  
But he knew Hibari had seen him and would come after.

No designer or architect of an old, Italian mansion with any respect for himself would have dreamed of making one without any secret passageways. And so don Cavallone's most favorite mansion was full of secret inner passageways and had been that way since its construction. Dino, who had grown up there (and who had had plenty of reasons to hide in his life), knew about nearly all of them – but he was the only one who did.

Rokudo Mukuro had absolutely no clue about where he was, but he had spent parts of his childhood in an old, Italian mansion, too, and because he had always been of the curious persuasion, he had developed quite a knack for spotting when two rooms didn't come together exactly right.

Hibari had no such skill, and he had never had any reason to hide from anyone either, but what he _did_ have was the mindset of a hunter, and he could probably have tracked Mukuro through an open ocean if he had needed to (he could also catch flies with his chopsticks, but that was another story).

-

The passageways were like a labyrinth, empty and quiet except for the soft sound of Hibari's own feet and the occasional chuckle from Mukuro, guiding them further in. It had turned quickly into a game of hide-and-seek now, with him chasing after the subtle rustle of movement and that infuriating laugh through one secret, unadorned corridor after another. Occasionally the corridors would end in different rooms, but they were all empty and dark and Hibari paused for only a split second in each of them to cast a quick look around him, checking for hints of someone hiding in the shadows.

Hibari couldn't see him, illusions perhaps, but he was excited. If Mukuro wanted to play games then he was in, he had waited so long for this, he needed it, except he had absolutely no plans whatsoever of playing by that creep's rules. The thought didn't even cross his mind, in fact, and Hibari Kyouya was a practical young man.

"Why do you keep running from me, herbivore?" he called out in one of the rooms, twirling his tonfas irritated.  
There was no reply but, as if by some magical mysterious magnetism, Hibari still chose the same route out as Mukuro had. He just didn't know it.

In reality, Mukuro was dying to test Hibari's strength and wouldn't actually have minded an all-out fight, but he was rather keen on avoiding a direct confrontation at the moment and there was a very good reason for that. He wasn't supposed to start any fights with Kyouya.

It was all part of the contract.

Mukuro placed great value in contracts.

During their battle for the Vongola rings he had been thrilled to discover that their little 'family' included the crazy beautiful head prefect of Namimori middle school that he had almost killed a few months previous, and he had went to see him again as soon as he got the opportunity. He didn't show himself, not directly – where was the fun in that? No, he had simply brushed past him on the street, and that was that, but he was certain that he had made Hibari's neck prickle all the same.

But then the cursed infant had showed up and eventually convinced him to find some other way of entertaining himself, effectively putting a stop to his budding plans of tormenting Hibari Kyouya.

There was a contract now, a ring, a pact. A promise. There was his Nagi.

And apparently, if his assumptions were not completely off (and they never were), he was the Arcobaleno Reborn's Joker Card against the egocentric Cloud Guardian. So that was that.

Except it wasn't, because Hibari knew nothing of all the strings being pulled in order to keep him exactly where he was, and whenever he caught a glimpse of Mukuro he became fully determined to bite him dead on the spot.

It was almost a little flattering.

_(Score: Hibari 2 – Mukuro 3)_

-

He stopped finally in one room. One of the hallways had ended there, and it appeared to be another one of the guestrooms.  
The lights hadn't been switched on, but the curtains weren't properly drawn and a dim glow of dirty yellow light from the lanterns outside was filtering in through a gap in the drapes, illuminating a huge four poster bed, a dressing table and the sharp outlines of a door that probably led to an adjacent bathroom.

Hibari stood perfectly still in the middle of the floor for maybe 3 seconds, and then he smirked.

"Do you really believe I won't know you're there, herbivore?"

To the oblivious observer it might have looked as if he was talking to himself, but he wasn't, of course – and slowly, the presence that had been in the corner of Hibari's eye took shape.

He had been right. It was him.

"_Kufufu…_"

Mukuro sat lounging comfortably on a narrow bench under the window to his left with his back resting against the window still, watching him. His eyes shone, uneven and strange in the faint light. They didn't seem human, those eyes, and Hibari couldn't stop looking at them.

_Too close_, he thought suddenly. Mukuro's presence, solid and real and so very close, felt almost overwhelming. But he didn't step back. He had him now, there was no escape, he would get his release.

Then Mukuro raised his eyebrows a fraction and his mouth shifted into the hint of a smirk. He nodded at him just barely, and it released him from his spell. "My my, you're not half bad…"

Hibari scowled. _Cocky and arrogant_, he thought.

"But I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," Mukuro went on, "you do after all have some Mist in you." The neck of his shirt was open and the light played along his collar bone.  
Hibari pouted his lips in puzzlement. "… what are you rambling about?"  
"My dear Chrome told me about the you she encountered in the future." He crossed his legs, looking languid, apparently pleased that he had managed to pique the other's curiosity. "She said he – I should say you – was very skilled with the Mist flame and that you were very knowledgeable in the ways of illusionary techniques."

"I hate illusions," said Hibari flatly.

"Nevertheless," Mukuro smirked, "I find it interesting. Illusions are terribly hard to master unless one is particularly gifted. Or," he added slyly, "unless one has a very, very good teacher."

Mukuro stood up and made to saunter past him, confident, apparently, that the other would not try to attack him in here. But, in a flash, Hibari had blocked his path, shifting so that he stood directly between him and the door that, judging from the muted sounds they could hear, must lead back out into the main building and the party downstairs.  
Hibari wondered vaguely where they were. He could probably backtrack his steps the way he'd come, he thought, but where this room was he had no idea. Not that it mattered.  
Not that he cared.

They stared at each other.

"_Kufufu…_" Mukuro chuckled and drew his fingers through his hair. "My, are you really so upset to watch me leave?" there was a playful glint in his eyes now. "You know, if you like we could –"

"Shut up and fight me."

Mukuro made a sudden lunge to his right, quickly and unexpectedly like a rattlesnake, as if he meant to attack, teasing him, but Hibari blocked him. "Oh ho!"  
There was a look of unwavering determination in the other's dark eyes, and Mukuro felt a surge of elation. He suddenly couldn't stop grinning, he wanted to laugh. _Oh Kyouya…!  
_Hibari was nearly half a head shorter than Mukuro, but he was smooth in his movements like a cat.

He did it again, moving to the left this time, and faster, but again he countered with ease.

"Someone as intelligent as you should know better than to think I would agree to fight you in here." Mukuro took a step back and spread his arms wide as he looked around the room, as if to tempt forth a non-existent sympathy for the maids who would have to clean up after them.  
"Besides," he added in a nonchalant voice, smooth and smug as velvet, "no matter how conceited you may be, you should know that you will never be able to defeat me."

Hibari cocked his head upward and looked into his eyes. They stood very close to each other now. "The conceited one is you, you pathetic, useless waste of flesh. I've come all the way here, and I won't allow you to leave until I bite you to death."

"_Kufufu…_ Fight, fight, fight – you're like a broken record." He tapped his chin with one finger, still smiling, "and you really do have a filthy mouth, you know. It is not very Japanese at all." He tried to step around him, but Hibari blocked his path again and this time he raised his tonfa in warning. He clearly had no intentions whatsoever of letting Mukuro pass.

"I have unfinished business with you, Rokudo Mukuro."

"Hmm, I suppose I am glad to have inspired such a driven motivation in you, however pointless it may be. Though I must say you are the sorest loser I have ever met." Perfectly unafraid he leant his face closer, resting his chin in the 'v' between his thumb and index finger, like a biologist studying some fascinating new specimen. "Perhaps there is something else entirely about me that fascinate you so, not just your desire to redress your, ah, pathetic defeat?"

"Defeat? Do me a favor and stop making useless assumptions, you filthy, bitch-fed catamite."

"So what is it then? Does fighting make you feel _alive_? Or perhaps… you get off on pain?" He smiled mockingly and added, almost as an afterthought, "if you do though, we should move this conversation elsewhere."

"Are your ears painted on?" Hibari made a demonstrative swipe in the air with a tonfa. "I don't know what you're fishing for you spineless weakling whore, but you can save your efforts. I have no interest in talking with you."

And then, as if he was suddenly fed up with their conversation, Hibari struck out at his face and it was almost with relief that Mukuro ducked and jabbed at his stomach with his fist. Hibari twisted away and his next blow hit the side of Mukuro's momentarily unprotected rib cage, just below the junction of his shoulder and sent him crashing to the floor. And then Hibari was on him like a wildcat, throwing himself on top of him and managing to strike his face once, twice, and then again, before Mukuro managed to push him off.  
Damn, he was fast!  
He was on him again in an instant and Mukuro feigned surrender. But as Hibari tried to trap his arms, Mukuro, taking him by surprise, flipped him onto his back and pinned him with the weight of his body.

There was a moment of perfect stillness as they stared at each other, both panting hard, trying to catch their breaths. Then Mukuro's lips tilted into a mischievous half smile and he brought his face down so close to Hibari's that their noses almost touched. "Do you see, Mr. Head Prefect?" he whispered softly. Hibari's eyes were fixed on his, glittering in the dim light like cat eyes. "You can't beat me. No matter how high you climb, _Kyouya_, I… will always be on top of you."

Though his tone of voice was mocking, there was a hint of something soft in his eyes.

Hibari's pretty eyes narrowed petulantly. "I don't care _where_ you are, maggot," he growled flatly, "when I rip your rotten guts to bloody shreds."

"Tsk, tsk, language – what _would_ your mother say?" Mukuro shifted his weight so that he was sitting on Hibari's stomach, gripping his wrists and grinding them so hard into the floor that he almost thought he could hear the bones creak. He cocked his head, looking down at Kyouya's doll-like face. "Honestly, listening to you talk sometimes is like watching a flower vomit."

That face, it was almost glassy it was so perfect.

_Boys shouldn't looks like this_, Mukuro thought vaguely.

And then, before he realized what he was doing, he was pressing his lips against Kyouya's, as hard as he could.

_(Score: Hibari 2 – Mukuro 4)_

-

"What, with Kyouya? Sure, Mukuro can try all he wants," laughed Dino. He was starting to get fairly drunk now. "Kyouya is immune to all that. Plus," he added, "he bites."

Tsuna was still standing by the sitting group, secretly trying to work up the courage to go and talk to Kyoko (and trying very hard not to think of what his Mist and Cloud Guardians might be doing alone together), but both he and Gokudera had reclined from joining in the drinking game.

He stared at Dino, but then his lips quirked and he laughed too. "Somehow I can imagine that." He had a sudden flash of Hibari with sharp Vampire fangs and smudges of blood around his mouth.

"No, really, he does." Dino's face became suddenly dead-serious. He took another sip from a drink he had standing on the table in addition to his shot glass, "it's not funny, actually. Hurts like hell."

Tsuna returned to staring again, and so did everybody else. He wasn't sure if he really wanted to know, but he had to ask. "Umh, why did he… bite you?"

There was a pause. Dino's cheeks looked suddenly very hot. "Well, he _thought_ I was trying to, err… I mean," he scratched his neck, "I can see how it may have _seemed_ like I was… you see, I slipped," he said, his face bright red now, "and I don't know why because there was nothing there." He grinned and scratched his neck again awkwardly, "and I sort of fell on top him. And his shirt got caught on something and it ripped."

Tsuna gaped at him. Why did these kinds of things only happen to Dino – _why_? He shook his head. Behind him Gokudera was chuckling. Gokudera considered anyone older than himself an enemy so Dino's absurd mishaps never ceased to amuse him.

Dino looked away and took a long sip from his drink. "I looked like a _quilt_ afterward, seriously – different colored bruises everywhere. And he thought I was trying to molest him on the veranda!" He blushed violently at the memory. "It was pretty awkward. So obviously I couldn't tell him about the laundry…"

"What laundry?"

"I accidentally knocked my glass over and spilled some juice on Enzio when Kyouya wasn't looking. And he didn't get terribly big, but I think he ate some of Kyouya's clothes that were hanging out to dry… So yeah. It was an awful day, actually."

Gokudera grinned and rubbed his hands together, looking very evil. "_Sweet_! I hope they kill each other."

Yamamoto jabbed him in the side with the elbow, eyebrows raised in a meaningful way. "_Gokudera!_"

"What?" Gokudera crossed his arms in self-justified defense. "They friggin' deserve each other, and you _all_ know it!" he let his hand swipe over their little group for emphasis. "We all know Hibari is the Antichrist – and anyone who takes on a psycho like that is obviously a mental basket-case with an Ego the size of the goddamn _moon_. And that," he added solemnly, lighting himself another cigarette, "would be Mukuro." He let out a long sigh of smoke. It sounded almost dreamy.

"Say what you will – I'm keeping my fingers crossed."

* * *

**Author's note**: I had to cut in half again. This happens to me a lot when I write. And it's not over quite yet, so now we might be talking 4 parts, the next of which is mostly semi-smut ;D

Also, Mukuro did in fact go to see Hibari first thing after the Rain Ring battle when he realized Hibari was there, and Gokudera actually does say that he hates everyone who's older than him – so I'm not making this up ;)  
The psychological tests mentioned in the beginning aren't made up either, according to _'Dexter' _that's the kind of questions they ask you.

Reviews would be EPICALLY, AWESOMELY appreciated!!!


	3. It's all about revenge

**Author's note**: and here's the last chapter! Ok, I managed to limit myself to 3 chapters – go me!  
…it's pretty dirty so consider yourselves warned people! My only excuse is that when it comes to these two, I tend to get carried away ^_^  
And, oh, I love you guys so much – this story is so cliché in so many ways, and yet you read it and give me these awesome reviews *wipes tear* … I am so blessed!

* * *

-

C**hapter 3  
**– it's all about revenge –

-

While Dino was revealing the details of his failed attempts to bond with his student, said student was busy 'bonding' with Mukuro the only way he knew how.  
They tumbled around on the floor like animals. Mukuro was bleeding from the mouth, because Hibari really did bite and he didn't discriminate, so that may not have been so surprising. What was perhaps a bit more surprising was that Kyouya's own lips were torn and bleeding too.

Because this was the difference between Dino and Mukuro.

Because Mukuro bit back…

_We're always like this, aren't we_, thought Hibari. And although 'bonding' may not be the exact right word to describe what they were doing, he had to admit that he had never before been in such an… intimate fight before. He wasn't even certain if it qualified more as fighting or just plain intimate anymore either, because in between each blow he took Mukuro was pressing him down into the floorboards or up against a wall kissing him roughly and for each blow he dealt he realized, somewhat vaguely, that he was returning the favor.

Mukuro's odd hair style was practically designed for grabbing, and grab he did, tangling his fingers in the blue-black silk and twisting hard, forcing Mukuro's head up and back, exposing the white neck. He pressed his lips against it, hard, closing his teeth around the skin, tight and smooth and pulsating, like a drum under his tongue. It was beating fast now, Mukuro was excited – a discovery that puzzled Hibari nearly as much as it fueled his desire to crush every bone in that long-limbed, slender body.

He was aware of hands groping at his thighs, hooking under his knees and lifting him up, up from the floor, so that they were hip to hip and _yes_, Hibari thought, Mukuro was most definitely excited. But so was he and he didn't stop sucking at Mukuro's neck, even as his back was slammed into the wall…

Which wasn't a wall, but a door!

They realized it just slightly too late as it swung open and they fell clumsily on top of each other onto the black and white checkered floor of a bathroom. The lights weren't on in here either, and so it was like tumbling in on a magnified, dark check board. Mukuro was on top, so it was Hibari who got the wind knocked out of him, but he noticed with a small surge of irritated satisfaction (yes – feelings didn't necessarily have to make very much sense when your name was Hibari Kyouya), that Mukuro had actually caught his head with his hand as they hit the floor. He coughed and gasped for air, glaring hatefully up at the bastard who smiled sweetly back down at him, gently massaging his hair with his fingers.

"My, what are the odds," he said mirthfully and looked like he wanted to laugh. Like he thought it was hysterically funny that they had fallen in through a door while violently making out in the bedroom and Hibari was reminded suddenly that Mukuro and he were the same age.  
The thought hit him out of nowhere, quick and clear as a bolt of lightning. Mukuro may be the epitome of all evil and, quite possibly, the very personification of Hell… but just then, as he was lying there on top of him chuckling and cradling the back of Hibari's head in the palm of his hand, as if Hibari's skull was made of glass or something, he was every bit the (horny) teenage boy that he was and suddenly Hibari grinned too.

Mukuro tightened his grip on Hibari's head and pulled it into the hollow of his shoulder, buried his face in his hair. Vaguely he realized that the skin of their faces and throats and collarbones were spattered and streaked with blood from their fight.

"You should know, herbivore, that this changes nothing," Hibari murmured softly into his ear, his sharp chin digging into his shoulder.

"No," Mukuro turned his head slightly and his mouth found Hibari's jawline, still bloody, "this changes _everything_…"

Without thinking he rubbed his lips across the blood, licked some of it away, and then his mouth found Kyouya's and their lips melted together again, a little gentler this time. He tasted salt and copper and the sweet, cinnamon-like flavor of Hibari's mouth. His torn lips felt soft against his, swollen and sore and scorching hot, but he responded with the same determination that defined his very being, never hesitant, never afraid.  
As they kissed more deeply Mukuro felt the wounds come open again, felt Hibari's blood flowing over his tongue. He sucked at it and swallowed hungrily – he had spilled it and now he would take it into himself.  
And it tasted so sweet he thought he would go mad with it!

Mukuro had, in fact, fantasized about sleeping with Kyouya before. It's true.

He wanted to do it someplace cold and dirty, like a back alley, to press that pretty face down in the asphalt or fuck him up against a rough, gritty brick wall. Somewhere that would leave his lovely skin bloody and scraped and his immaculate clothes filthy and torn. Or drag him into an unclean bathroom in a bar with greenish fluorescent light and dirty legends scribbled on the walls and bend him over the sink. Mukuro was no virgin, not in any sense of the word, but he felt pretty certain Hibari still was, and the thought of taking that from him – proud, arrogant, beautiful Hibari – under such lowly and _common_ circumstances was somehow extremely arousing.  
He fantasized about taking him against his will – of tying his hands together, biting him in the shoulder and bring him to sobbing, violent orgasms. Breaking him completely…

Other times when he thought about it, he wanted to do it extravagantly, properly, unforgettably. The challenge of seducing Hibari into compliancy tempted him nearly just as much as the alternative.

But now that he realized he might actually have the chance, his perspective on things changed almost instantly, as if someone had snapped their fingers inside his brain. Mukuro had never been in love, so it never occurred to him that that was what it might be, but he did know (and, with both his hands up Hibari's shirt and those incredible legs tangled with his own, he knew it more and more) that he wanted Hibari to enjoy this and would want to do it again.

Determined hands moved up under his shirt, across his chest, made his skin shiver into goose bumps and his nipples grow hard as candy pieces. He moved his nose to nuzzle Hibari's hair and ran the tip of his tongue over the soft shell of his ear, earning him a maddeningly erotic sound from somewhere in Kyouya's throat.  
He wasn't sure if he'd be able to stop now, even if he had wanted to (that was the downside to being all about satisfaction).  
Their hands found each other and intertwined. He squeezed Hibari's fingers, brought them up to his mouth and kissed each of them, his tongue slid over the ball of Hibari's thumb, soft as velvet.

Sitting half-way up with his shoulder blades pressing hard against the cold, slick wall, Hibari began to feel something uncoil inside him, some unfamiliar warmth seeping through his innards, and he was suddenly acutely aware of every inch of skin, every miniscule hair on his body, every pore and cell… He had stopped glaring now, and was contemplating Mukuro with an almost pensive look in his eyes. As if he had just realized something completely new.

Then they were kissing again, hard and hot, clutching each other, learning the shape and texture of each other's lips, testing the sharpness of the teeth behind them. Mukuro's hands were sliding down Hibari's back, straying below the belt, cupping his buttocks and squeezing, then moving down to the juncture of his thighs and lightly stroking the sensitive flesh though the fabric of his slacks.

_What am I doing?_, said a wild voice in Hibari's mind, sounding almost panicky, _why haven't I killed him yet? This is _him_!_ _Rokudo Mukuro – it's too much, too dangerous, he's got too much power like this. He'll drink my brain, he'll crack my soul open like an egg! _

Then, did he even want to stop? With his own hardening flesh pressed almost painfully against the warm hollow of Mukuro's hipbone… did he even care at this point?

He sucked at Mukuro's tongue, pulled it deep into his mouth, as if he meant to swallow it. How strange it was, he thought, to have two tongues in his mouth instead of just his own. You were so used to always having it there, nestling in the cradle of your lower jaw bone, pressing against your teeth, that the presence of someone else's tongue in there felt very alien at first, like being explored by a small slippery animal.

Their hands roamed the planes and hollows of one another's bodies. Mukuro's clever fingers slid beneath the thin, crisp fabric of his shirt, stroking the palm of his hand up his side and around to the back, and pulling his shirt up with it. Then his other hand wandered down and slid between his legs and Mukuro's lips kissed a slow trail down his chin, along the curve of his throat and the hollow of his collar bone and wrapped hot and wet around a nipple through the cloth.  
Hibari felt his stomach lurch, his mind beginning to dissolve into abandon, he threw his head back, buried his fingers in Mukuro's sleek hair.

_This could be bad…_

He twined the silky strands around his fingers and arched his back as Mukuro nuzzled into his chest, rubbing his lips lightly against the nipples that were now painfully hard, unbuttoning Hibari's shirt from the bottom up. The lips moved further down, moving across the warm, flat pane of Hibari's stomach, creamy and white and without hair or blemish, deft fingers making quick work of the belt.

Mukuro looked quickly up as he tugged the cloth away.

But Hibari didn't even blush and Mukuro's perpetual smirk widened into a dangerous, dazzling smile. And with their eyes still firmly locked he kissed the tip once before he took the whole throbbing, scorching hot thing into his mouth, as far in as he could make it go. And all at once nothing existed in this world but heat and the smooth texture of tongue and fingertips and the smooth glide of saliva, the deep, silken tunnel of Mukuro's throat surrounding him.

Well, thought Hibari, this was certainly… a novel gesture. He gasped. Perhaps those mating rituals did have a purpose after all!

Mukuro's dark, two-colored eyes found his again and there was a wicked joy in them.

"Do you like it… _Kyouya_?"

Hibari's first impulse was to punch him, but then his lips tilted into a lop-sided smirk, his cheeks were hot and flushed. "If you stop, I'll kill you."

Lost in a haze of dizzy, mounting pleasure they slid down on to the floor, Hibari was moaning now, he could _hear_ it. How humiliating…! _Damn, just what I needed – I get that damn antidote, he gets me drunk, I don't drink, he molests me…_ Why the hell could he never win with this guy?!

"I had planned on rendering you helpless, somehow," murmured Mukuro as he pressed his lips almost gently against the soft juncture of his thigh, "but it seems my illusions would have been superfluous."  
"I hate illusions," panted Hibari. It sounded like an auto-response.

He had merely wanted to settle their score once and for all tonight, and here he was, lying almost naked on the floor inside a dark bathroom moaning and writhing under the skillful ministrations of Rokudo Mukuro.

_But_, he realized, this was power too – just as surely as smashing someone's face with a fist or putting a tonfa through their worthless skull, the power to make them crazy with pleasure and desire, to have their every cell and aching nerve ending at your mercy was every bit as potent. If they stopped now, they would surely die from it. Perhaps this was Mukuro's weak point.

Then, suddenly, his eyes narrowed dangerously. "You _planned_ for this?"

"_Kufufu…_ Not precisely." Mukuro came up to kiss his chin, smiling mischievously as he brought his hand up to the small of Hibari's back, pulling him closer, "I expected to at least have to drug you first."

It wouldn't have made much difference to Mukuro at that precise moment, perhaps (he didn't even see the murderous gleam in Hibari's eyes, he was too busy exploring his ear with his tongue just then to notice), but one of the things that Dino had neglected to mention about Hibari was this: he had a very… _individual_ sense of humor.  
General rule of thumb, in fact – or so Dino had learned, the hard way – just don't pull jokes on Kyouya.  
Just… don't!

But even if Mukuro had known, it was, of course, much too late now. Because Hibari had just gotten a brilliant idea…

_(Score: Hibari 2 – Mukuro 6)_

-

Mukuro felt the click a split second before he heard it. A metallic little snap, like the tick from a huge clockwork _or_ – his two-colored eyes widened marginally and he looked quickly up – like _handcuffs_. Uh oh.

Now Kyouya sat perched on his stomach, wearing absolutely nothing but the shirt that still hung haphazardly from his shoulders (and belonged to Dino), smiling smugly down at him and twirling a second pair of handcuffs expertly around in lazy circles on one finger. He looked quite stunning.

"Got you," he said with an almost playful lilt in his voice.

It might have amused and/or royally pissed him off to know that the first thought that popped into Mukuro's brain when he realized what he'd been trapped with was _'damn, does this mean he's screwing the Cavallone?'_ Although, in Mukuro's defense, it was a fairly justified suspicion, taking into consideration Dino's weapon of choice and all.

"Oh my," Mukuro smirked, but it was a little strained now. His eyes darted quickly from side to side. "What lovely new toys you have… I didn't know about those," he added in a mutter that sounded unselfconscious.

His thoughts raced through his head at double speed. Kyouya had trapped him – he had _handcuffed_ him! To a _toilet_!

There were a number of possible outcomes here and only a few of them were in his favor… If Hibari decided to beat him up, which he was prone to do, then that could be bad (Hibari tended to get a little _too_ enthusiastic sometimes when he was enjoying himself).  
If he decided to have his way with him right there and then on the bathroom floor then that would be Awesome (although Mukuro would have preferred to be on top), and if he decided to let _someone else_ have their way with him on the bathroom floor then that would be bad again.  
If he took pictures to use for blackmail, the weight shifted back to good – Mukuro was not very shy. At all.

But Hibari did none of those things. Instead his face took on a business-like expression and he held up one finger. "This," he said, "is for breaking and entering on school premises –"  
Ah yes, their second meeting, up on the school roof, Mukuro remembered. How nostalgic."Merely paying my old, ah, friend a visit," he quipped pleasantly.  
"For getting me drunk –"a second finger went up.  
_The 'bar-incident', yes, that was entertaining… _"You know, alcohol is known to create a good mood," he said diplomatically, "offering someone a drink is a sign of politeness."

"You tricked me, and," said Hibari, raising a third finger and closing his eyes in a resigned fashion, "for stealing my underwear."  
Mukuro grinned, mentally preparing for another amusing memory to pop into his recollection, but then it quickly disappeared again. "Pardon?" he blinked, "steal your… underwear?"  
"Yes, I put out my laundry to dry and when I came back it was gone, and I know it was you, low-life," growled Hibari. "Now, I have little interest in your perverted habits, but I will not accept theft in my town."

_The _thievery_ is what bothers him the most_? "I assure you, Kyouya dearest, I prefer underwear when I can remove it personally from their owners with my teeth."  
But he wondered vaguely who the perpetrator was. Anyone who was brave or stupid enough to steal as much as a paper clip from Hibari Kyouya might be worthy of notice. He was also struck with perfectly unreasonable feeling of jealousy – if Kyouya had a stalker then Mukuro would kill them. The thought struck him so swiftly he barely realized what it was – but this wasn't exactly the time and place for analyzing impulses anyway, he decided.

He looked for a moment dumbfounded and started shaking his head slowly back and forth, "certainly I may have arranged for a couple of minor inconveniences, but I have _never_ –"  
"_I_ am placing you under arrest for breaking and entering, serving alcohol to minors," drawled Hibari, breaking him off in mid-sentence, "breaking and entering again, theft…"

He was smiling one of his mysterious little almost-smiles now and he looked most definitely very pleased with himself. "And plotted sexual assault."  
"Plotted –? Ah, that was not… Kyouya, I was joking!"

Completely ignoring him, Hibari got up on his feet and wandered around the bathroom picking up his slacks, his shirt and his tie. Mukuro noticed that he took only the exact number of steps necessary to reach each item, he really was terribly meticulous. He did however get a couple of nice looks of Hibari's well-shaped backside as he bent down. And that was nice.

He tugged weakly at the handcuffs and was rewarded with some metallic clinking noises that sounded unpleasant. And then he noticed – "Ah, Kyouya, my clothes –"

"_Ciao_," said Hibari mockingly and slung his jacket casually over his shoulder. He turned on the lights in the ceiling and took a moment to study his own handiwork – Rokudo Mukuro, naked and trapped. Then he cocked his head and smiled one of his small, unreadable almost-smiles, "hm", before giving Mukuro a final small wave and closing the door behind him.

He did not lock it.

(Score: _Hibari 100 – Mukuro 6)_

-

In order to keep Mukuro occupied for the rest of the evening should he somehow miraculously manage to somehow escape, Hibari had taken what he deemed to be the appropriate precautionary measures and taken all of his clothes with him to hide in various, irregular locations around the mansion. It was simply no fun unless Mukuro was publicly humiliated.

He'd just finished stuffing a thin, cameo-printed T-shirt under the bed in one of the other guestrooms and was just about to exit when, just as he was reaching for the handle, the door suddenly swung open of itself and a tangle of arms, disheveled hair and rumpled shirt sleeves that turned out to be Yamamoto Takeshi and Gokudera Hayato tumbled inside and fell roughly to the floor.

"Ah!"

Hibari stared at them.

_Mating rituals…_ he thought, somewhat absently. Apparently Rokudo Mukuro was not the only one who laid plans. Not that he was terribly surprised.

Yamamoto's face was… priceless. "Hibari?! It's – what're you –?!"  
Under him Gokudera groaned, "…of course, great!" His face was bright, burning red. "The Son of Satan is here."

"Oh joy," replied Hibari sarcastically and smirked, "if it isn't my favorite gay couple from Fraggle rock."

"Aw, shove it up your ass, Hibari!" barked Gokudera. He scrambled to his feet, hastily straightening his suit with his hands.  
But Yamamoto was already laughing again, waving his hand in cheerful greeting, "hey there, Hibari! Ha-ha, sorry you had to see that," he scratched his neck. Then he pointed to the pile in Hibari's arms. "Err, whose clothes is that?"

"I have confiscated them," drawled Hibari, "so now they're… mine, actually. Excuse me…"  
As he sauntered past a confused looking Yamamoto and made to leave, he smirked and cast a glance over his shoulder at Gokudera. "Hm, don't break him…"

He thought he heard a minor explosion behind him and Gokudera yelled, "oh yeah?! You'd know something about that, wouldn't you!"  
This seemed to trigger something in Yamamoto's short-term memory circuits, because he suddenly turned to Hibari. "Ah, Hibari! Where's, err, where's Mukuro?"

The smile Hibari gave him just then could probably have scared a junkyard dog. "Why don't you go look."

He passed by Kurokawa Hana in the stairway on his way down. She seemed distracted he noticed and recalled that he had used to think she was quite pretty in middle school.

-

By the time the Herbivore Brigade (lead for the occasion by Dino, Yamamoto, Colonello, Basil and Ken) had decided to bring out the fireworks Hibari had managed to find a cold, hard, comfortable spot on a stone bench under a snow laden tree out in the garden below where he could be perfectly alone.  
The wide, half-moon balcony was crowded like a shopping center on a Saturday afternoon and even though he had positioned himself a considerable distance away, he still found it somewhat offensive.

When he leant back to lie on the bench with his arms folded behind his head to watch the fireworks display, however, he suddenly found himself staring directly up into the face of Rokudo Mukuro and drew an involuntary little gasp. It was barely more than an 'h!'

"My my, fancy seeing you here!"

He sat perched on one of the lower branches right above the little bench, dangling his bare feet in the cold air and managing somehow to look perfectly poised in spite of sitting half-dressed in a tree.  
In the middle of the night.  
In the middle of winter…

"_Kufufu…_ Surprised to see me?" Mukuro asked, and pretended to study his nails. He sounded nonchalant, but his voice had a sulky undertone to it that gave Hibari a feeling of tremendous satisfaction. "You can be quite conniving, apparently. I suppose I did underestimate you, somewhat, Mr. Head Prefect." And then he added quietly through gritted teeth, "I assure you I will not make that same mistake again."

Hibari scowled. This was not according to plan! He had not expected the herbivore to break free from the handcuffs so easily. Had someone helped him?

He was on the verge of asking just that, when the sky above them suddenly exploded in a shower of bright green and golden stars, quickly followed by bursts of purple and silver and they both looked up. They had started sending up fireworks form the balcony, which meant that it must already be midnight.

He had meant to say something dirty to the infuriating escape-artist in the tree, but in the end he said nothing and they watched the fireworks together in silence.

"Happy New Year, Kyouya." Mukuro dangled his legs idly and sprinkled a handful of dry powder-snow down over Kyouya's thick black hair where it sparkled like sugar for a short while before it melted.

"Hm. Happy New Year… Rokudo Mukuro."

There was a brief pause as they continued to watch the fireworks. Then Mukuro glanced down at him again with a mischievous grin.  
"Did you know that in western cultures, it's customary to kiss –"  
"Shut up before I bite you to death," said Hibari smoothly in one breath, closing his eyes in a resigned fashion.  
"… I'm just saying. Say, which room is yours again?"

Hibari opened his eyes again to glare up at him menacingly, but then suddenly he smiled. "Your head looks like a pineapple from here."

And that was that.

_(Final score: Hibari Epic Win)_

-

Except, it wasn't…

Oh, but no – they didn't sleep together (that night).

Exhausted from playing hide-and-seek with Hibari, successfully morphing their fight into a successful attempt to seduce him (although it happened in a bathroom and ended in disaster), and finally from having to free himself from a pair of handcuffs and searching all over the mansion for his clothes (another endeavor that had ended in failure), Mukuro had practically collapsed the minute he stepped inside after the fireworks display was over – incidentally he fell straight into the arms of Dino Cavallone, who was very drunk at that point and who proceeded to cheerfully invited a clearly flustered and bewildered Chrome up to look at his stamp collection.

And even if Mukuro should have been stupid enough to search out and sneak into Hibari's room (to either kill him or screw him senseless – he couldn't decide which he wanted more at the moment), he wouldn't have found Hibari there. Hibari's sleep pattern was somewhat… _off_, and he spent the entire first night of the New Year sitting up on the roof enjoying the view and finishing up the book he was reading.

Overall Hibari thought it had been a very satisfying evening indeed. And he was, after all, a practical young man.

But if he, or anybody else for that matter, thought that the score between them had been settled then he was sadly mistaken. Because already on the following morning, an excessive bouquet of roses a rich, deep red color was delivered to Hibari Kyouya.

Petals of cherry blossom had been neatly pinned to every single thorn.

And _that_ was…

(Well, actually, you know the rest)

-

**The End**

-

* * *

**Final author's note**: I loved writing this! I'm not sure if I've had this much fun with a story before, especially the bathroom scene. If you've read through all 3 chapters, then I love you. Those of you who also read Namimori Candy Baby (the original parallel story to this parallel story), I love you even harder!

Reviews would be greatly appreciated ^_^


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